Assuming you can’t wait until Microsoft Inspire to find out what this means for your business, read on for insights from industry experts and Microsoft MVPs to see what Skype for Business retirement means to them, and what it should mean to you.

Firstly, should the announcement cause mass panic?

My first port of call was Patrick Watson, Journalist at UC Today. He covered the news and was quick to assemble a podcast with Microsoft MVP, Tom Arbuthnot.

I asked Patrick how the Skype for Business retirement announcement would change IT Manager’s day to day lives.

“The Skype for Business retirement date doesn’t change anything at all for Skype for Business Online customers.“

Patrick was to the point, rather than fluffy and dancing around Microsoft’s communications.

“Admins should already be working on their migration strategies.”

He also said, “Managers should have known this was coming as Microsoft has been clear about its progression path from Skype for Business to Teams generally.”

What has been the immediate reaction to Skype for Business retirement in the MVP community?

I asked Tom Arbuthnot for his take on the feeling in the Microsoft MVP community. His sentiment echoed Patrick’s.

“The MVP community is, by definition, on the pulse of what Microsoft is doing, so the end of life of Skype for Business Online in favour of Microsoft Teams was unsurprising.“

Tom went on to suggest that the MVP community is in favor of Microsoft’s decision: “Microsoft Teams use is growing massively and Microsoft is putting all its efforts into their cloud-native UC and Collab proposition, which makes sense.”

Will the Skype for Business retirement announcement cause mass panic?

Another Microsoft MVP, Joel Oleson, was keen to point out in his blog that IT Managers need to act sooner rather than later.

“Prepare Now: Don’t Just Mark Your Calendars: July 31, 2021.”

It seems fair to say that the Microsoft community was ready and waiting for the retirement announcement but there is still work to be done in IT.

The timing was just before Gartner named Microsoft leaders in UCaaS, does this change anything?

Should end users be going to Microsoft or partners for help with Skype to Teams migrations?

It did, however, include many partners, resellers, and managed service providers that are fully qualified Microsoft MVPs.

I asked one influencer, Randy Chapman, Head of Consulting at Meeting Zone, for his take on where IT Managers should start with migrations.

He suggested if a company does want to migrate to Teams, whether from Skype for Business Online or Server, they should engage a partner that can help.

“A partner can help them understand the features and benefits and also the implications of moving to Teams. They can also help with governance, change management and user adoption.”

Sticking with the theme of change management, Kristof Maes at Xylos suggested the main reason for organizations not already adopting Teams is the change & adoption requirements to move to Microsoft Teamsas a complete Workstream Collaboration tool.

Randy also mentioned that there isn’t a certified Teams migration partner directory.

It’s a sought after tool that IT Managers would love to get their hands on.

He said: “Gold level partners and those with a track record with Skype for Business are a great place to start. Although not all will have jumped in with both feet for Teams.”

What are the major differences IT Managers need to be aware of?

While feature parity is the ultimate goal for Microsoft Teams, there are some differences between the platforms.

Click for a Microsoft Teams vs Skype for Business comparison

The most requested feature on the Microsoft community forum is guest access.

Users of Skype for Business will be familiar with the external federation access, where users from one company can Skype another company.

This is yet to be made quite as straight forward in Microsoft Teams.

There are some key differences between the two platforms as we move from instant messaging to team collaboration.

So, for apps like Trello and Zoom, your experience will likely become more streamlined.

For other messaging apps, like Slack and Cisco Webex Teams, Microsoft Teams opens the door to complete messaging interoperability.

Check out what is possible in this video…

Microsoft Teams interoperability with Slack

What is Cisco’s take on Skype for Business retirement?

Recognizing the high volume of mixed messaging environments in the workplace, I reached out to Jono Luk, Director of Product Management for Cisco Webex, to see what Skype for Business Online retiring meant to Cisco.

Jono said: “At Cisco Webex, we believe in providing the best possible collaborative experiences for our customers, even when they’re using other platforms too.

The retirement of Skype for Business Online is an opportunity to offer our customers what we believe to be a richer collaboration experience with Webex, but at the same time a call to ensure that whatever they decide.”

“We’ll support their choice and continue to allow their users to work across platforms with the help of partners like Mio.”

Ultimately, Cisco is more than open to interoperability.

Cisco is building bridges to interoperability with Microsoft Teams

Contrary to recent history, collaboration vendors now realize that they must coexist and that one-size-does-not-fit-all.